MiSTer Controller Latency

Latency Overview

You can find the full spreadsheet here. If you see a controller you’d like more info on, its row value listed here will match the “Detailed Results” tab. Store links are often affiliate.

Make

Connection

Wired Wireless

Home Button

- NO YES

Category

Arcade Stick Arcade Stick Encoder Controller Controller Adapter Controller Conversion Supergun

Face Buttons

- 2 3 4 6 8

Latency Tier

00-01ms (Diamond) 01-05ms (Platinum) 05-10ms (Gold) 10-15ms (Silver) 15-20ms (Bronze) 20ms+ (Rust)

Recently Added

Summary Statistics

Overall Statistics:

• Total devices tested: 289
• Wired devices: 197 (mean latency: 4.74 ms)
• Wireless devices: 91 (mean latency: 14.65 ms)
• One frame threshold: 16.67 ms (60 Hz)

Wired vs Wireless t-test: t = -10.50, p-value = 0.0000 (statistically significant)

Interactive Charts

In all plots, the dashed red line corresponds to one frame (16.67 ms at 60 Hz).

Wired vs. Wireless

2.4GHz Wireless vs. Bluetooth

Latency by Rank

Category Comparison

Raw Data Deep Dive

This section analyzes the raw capture data from individual controller tests, providing detailed latency distribution insights.

Raw data available: 40 devices with 179,481 total readings.

Percentile Statistics from Raw Captures

Latency Distribution by Device

Select a device to view its latency distribution histogram.

Time-Series Pattern Viewer

Select a device to view its latency over time. Look for periodic sawtooth patterns indicating polling intervals.

Consistency Analysis

Devices with higher consistency scores have more predictable latency (less variance relative to mean).

Latency Ranges

These plots show approximate latency ranges using 95% confidence intervals. Due to limited data, some standard deviations were imputed using linear regression. Imputed values are shown in a different color.

Use the filters below to show specific device types and connection methods.

Connection

Wired Wireless

Category

Arcade Stick Arcade Stick Encoder Controller Controller Adapter Controller Conversion

## `height` was translated to `width`.

Note: Red error bars indicate imputed standard deviation (estimated via linear regression). Blue bars are measured values.

Best Performers by Category

Top 3 performing devices in each category, separated by wired and wireless connection.

Methodology

This data was collected using a closed-loop latency testing system consisting of:

• Arduino Pro Micro - Triggers virtual button presses and measures response time via hardware interrupt
• DE10-nano with MiSTer FPGA - Running the NES Lag Tester core to detect inputs
• Custom test PCB - Connects the Arduino, controller pins, and DE10-nano

The Arduino triggers a button press on the controller under test, and measures the time until the MiSTer core detects the input. Results are captured via serial output in CSV format.

For more details, see the GitHub repository.